Out of Character
by STech
Summary: Equally shocked by each other's actions, they remained in the hangar for an undefined amount of time, both completely out of character.


**Disclaimer: Obviously I do not own Gundam 00 :)**

**A random One-shot I wrote while stuck with my other story. **

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Tieria paced slowly down the corridor in the direction of the main hangar. _How could I have let that happen? It all feels so surreal right now. I must be dreaming. He can't actually be gone._

His head swam like a beating river of unending thoughts, so quickly that he could barely comprehend one before he next crashed relentlessly through his mind. He cautiously glanced around him, ensuring that he was indeed alone. He clenched his eyes tightly and forced his overrun mind to be quiet so that he could listen for anyone in the vicinity. Once he was sure he was alone, he broke into a run, willing his tears not to fall until he reached his destination. Upon reaching the door, he slammed his clenched fist into the door switch and the door slowly slid open. Again he held his breath to make sure there was no one around. _Who am I kidding? There's no one here. Everyone else is respectful enough to gather and mourn the loss of our fallen comrade together. Everyone but me._

The door slid shut behind him, the wind from it causing his hair to blow up into his face. As his hair resumed its normal shape, pieces stuck to his tear soaked cheeks. Again he resumed his normal pace, walking past his own mobile suit, then past badly damaged Kyrios. He stopped in his tracks and stared up at the large, heavily damaged white and green suit. Its cockpit was reduced to nearly nothing, and it became obvious to him why his friend had died.

New tears entered his eyes as he moved toward what was left of the Dynames. Leaning over the railing in front of it, he stared up at it in awe. _This is all my fault. If only I had just accepted the backup system in the first place rather than tried to hold out for veda then he'd still be…_

The number of times he'd pondered this thought had become inconceivable to even the greatest of mathematicians.

_Or if I had taken more care to defend him rather than fighting off the other suits. I should have followed him when he went after the enemy ship, but even then it probably would have been Allelujah who would have fallen. Either way though, it was my fault that he was injured and I should have been the one to protect him this time. _

Tears flooded his eyes more heavily than ever. His glasses grew foggy but he didn't care. He dropped his head over the edge of the railing and allowed his long hair to consume his face. Several sobs escaped him and echoed throughout the hangar. It didn't matter; he deserved to be upset. He watched as the tears slid off his face and land on the feet of his fallen comrade's mobile suit. _If this is all I can give you in return then so be it. _

Again his thoughts grew incomprehensible, and he slammed his fist roughly against the railing, swearing loudly. As the pain coursed through his hand he couldn't help but feel as though he deserved it. It quickly became the only relief to the horrible thoughts pulsating loudly through is brain.

"Tieria?"

He quickly lifted his head and looked in the direction of his visitor. Pulling his glasses off his face and wiping his eyes on his sleeve, he could faintly make out the image of a pink haired girl through his cloudy and unaided vision.

"Feldt?"

As she approached him, he wiped his glasses off on the bottom of his sweater and pushed them back up his nose. Upon glancing at her with newly focused sight, he could see that she, like him, had been crying. She had Lockon's haro clenched tightly under her right arm. Even the mechanical, unemotional robot seemed depressed. Normally you couldn't get the thing to shut up, but now it wouldn't say a word.

Haro's words as the Dynames was returned to the ship echoed through Tieria's mind. The mechanical copilot desperately called out the name of its owner, even though it knew better than the rest of them that he was gone. Fresh tears entered Tieria's eyes.

"He's really gone, isn't he," Feldt said, her voice greatly strained from crying.

"If only I hadn't hung on so tightly to veda," Tieria said, again pounding his fist into the railing. It was finally beginning to hurt the way it should have before. "And if only Setsuna hadn't left us. Maybe he'd still be here!" The boy said, now sounding angry.

"It isn't Setsuna's fault," Feldt said reassuringly, "he got here as fast as he could once we alerted him."

"I know it isn't," he said, his voice shaking immensely, "it's mine."

"It's not your fault either, Tieria. It's like Lockon and Miss Sumeragi said, everyone makes mistakes because we're only human."

Tieria's eyes widened and he looked down at the girl, "you heard that?"

She nodded and then looked up at the nearly destroyed machine.

Normally he would have been infuriated at the prospect of someone eavesdropping, especially with a conversation like the one he'd had with Lockon earlier that day, but given the circumstances he couldn't find it in himself to be angry with her. She looked just as distraught as he felt.

"I just can't believe he's really gone," she sobbed, rubbing her eyes with the back of her left hand.

"Sorry Feldt, sorry Feldt," Haro said, jumping out of her arms.

"It isn't your fault Haro," she said, her voice finally cracking as she broke down crying.

Tieria watched her uncomfortably. He had never been good at comforting people because in all honesty, he was more insensitive than anyone. He just didn't have it in him to worry about others. Normally he wouldn't break down like this either. But at the moment, he couldn't help but feel his heart break a little more as he watched the young girl cry. This crew was all she had. They were like her family. Hesitantly, he moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her.

She stopped crying for a second due to pure shock, but as she realized what he had done, she hugged him back and cried into his shoulder. She knew that Tieria was not the type of person to do this, but even she herself wasn't in her right mind.

Tieria felt himself calm down as he continued to hold the sobbing girl. Although he never usually took notice of personal feelings, he vaguely remembered Allelujah talking to Lockon about how Feldt liked him. Could that be part of why she was so torn up over it? Obviously everyone was upset, but to leave the others and come down here like this meant there had to be something deeper. He also recalled her having his Haro quite often; like now for example.

"Feldt, you liked him didn't you?" He asked bluntly in the most composed tone he had come up with since the accident.

"Huh?" The girl said, breaking out of his grasp and staring up at him. She looked almost hurt by his question.

Tieria stared at her questioningly. _Did I say something wrong?"_ He had never been the type of person to question someone's emotions, so he guessed that he had crossed a line.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," he said, hanging his head.

"No, it's alright," she replied, still evading the question. "It's just that… I… he…" her voice cracked again and she broke into tears once again.

"It's ok. I'm sorry." Tieria said in a comforting manner. More cautiously than last time, he approached her and pulled her into a hug. Realizing that she wasn't about to protest, he held her tightly and rested his chin atop her head. "It's ok," he repeated soothingly. As he listened to her cry, he couldn't stop the tears from coming into his own eyes. He sniffled quietly and she tightened her arms around him.

The two stood there sobbing together for what felt like forever.

Finally, they moved to one of the smaller engineering rooms and sat against the door, still staring up at the greatly damaged machine in front of them.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you, Tieria," Feldt said guiltily, having finally regained her composure.

"No, it's fine," Tieria said, realizing that she had indeed interrupted his self pitying session, but he realized that it was probably for the best anyway.

"You shouldn't beat yourself up over it. It really wasn't your fault. He shouldn't have been allowed to sortie in his condition anyway," Feldt said, attempting to comfort the sulking boy.

"If only I had just allowed the backup system to reactivate Virtue rather than holding out for veda. I just feel like I chose veda over Lockon." He really had no idea why he was telling her this. He never shared his feelings, other than when he spoke to Lockon earlier. _What is happening to me?_

She understood. Although she couldn't quite put her finger on it, she realized that Lockon had meant something to him. Not the same way he meant to her, but there was a special friendship between them. She started to understand why the normally distant pilot was so troubled over Lockon's death.

"There's really no point in blaming yourself for it. All it's going to do is ruin your focus. You know that he wouldn't blame you. He wouldn't want you to destroy yourself for what happened either."

He stared at her while trying to hide his astonishment. While he still felt guilty, he knew that she was right. _He wouldn't have wanted me to feel like this. _

"You know that it's only a matter of time before we head back into battle, so don't let it destroy your focus. Can you imagine how horrible you would feel if we lost someone else because everyone was too torn up over his death to concentrate?"

He couldn't help wondering how she was so calm right now. All he could think about was how upset he was; all the while she was looking at things rationally. He was disappointed in himself. Never once before had he allowed emotion to intervene on his mission. But then there was the fact that he had never allowed himself to get so close to someone as he did to Lockon. _Was that a mistake too?_

"You're right. I allowed my head to become clouded. I'm sorry," he said, wiping his eyes one last time and giving one last good sniffle before standing up. "Thank you Feldt Grace, for helping me see things clearly again."

"Sure," she said sadly, disappointed that he was walking away. She had never seen any side of Tieria other than the professionally arrogant attitude he maintained during missions, but she liked seeing his feelings, but most of all, she liked knowing that he really was a person with thoughts and emotions. Although he had always put up a wall, he was indeed just like everyone else on this ship.

It only took a second for the girl's saddened tone to register in Tieria's mind. He quickly realized that she had helped him but he had really offered nothing in return. Although he knew it was strange for this to even be crossing his mind, he felt guilty. He looked back at where he had left her, her legs pulled close against her chest and her chin buried in her knees. He turned back to her, but froze in mid step. _What do I even say to her? I'm no good at this kind of thing._ Clenching his fists and his eyes tightly, he turned away from the pink haired girl and hesitated for a second. As he finally made up his mind and was about to walk away, he felt a hand grasp his own. Startled, he looked down to see the girl with tears streaming down her face, looking up at him as though desperate for his company. He had never felt needed like that before. It made him feel useful in a way he had never imagined.

"Please," she said, her voice shaking tremendously, "don't go."

He remained frozen in his present position, staring wide eyed back at the frantic form at his feet. As if a sense of worth had appeared from thin air, he finally broke free of his stance and kneeled beside the girl. Fresh tears filled her eyes, and she broke down again. He wrapped his arms around her once more, but with less thought and hesitation this time, as though he was sure it was right thing to do. "It's ok," he said in an unfamiliar manner, "I'm here."

Equally shocked by each other's actions, they remained in the hangar for an undefined amount of time, both completely out of character.

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**A/N: So there you have it, the random one-shot that popped into my head the other day.**

**To those of you who have been reading my other story, I promise the next part will be posted soon. I hope this was sufficient in tying you over for now :)**


End file.
